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Medieval Croatia (Ragusa): silver grosso portraying St. Blasius and Christ, ca. 1372-1438

Medieval Croatia (Ragusa): silver grosso portraying St. Blasius and Christ, ca. 1372-1438







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Obverse: S BLASIVS RAGVSII, Saint Blasius standing, facing, raising hands in benediction and holding crozier.



Reverse: IC/XC, Christ standing facing, raising hand in benediction and holding Gospels.



Ex-Künker am Dom, Munich, Germany, purchased raw through online store at ma-shops.com, 5/9/2015.



This is just a great looking medieval coin. I love the portrayal of Saint Blasius. His pose of benediction, coupled with his beard and robes, makes him look like a hippie of the 1960s flashing the peace sign (perhaps as played by actor Tommy Chong). No doubt that modern pop culture peace gesture had some of its origins in the ancient ecclesiastical one. For this reason, I've affectionately nicknamed this my "Hippie Coin", but aside from that, I love the toning and overall look of it.



Admittedly I have not seen very many of these, but this piece is head and shoulders above any others I've found in my web browsing so far, in terms of strike, quality, and eye appeal, if not grade. I just had to have it. It is also interestingly double-struck, if you look at the beaded lozenge that surrounds Christ on the reverse, and the letters to the right of it. The Lord and Savior looks slightly disgusted to be on the reverse of a coin in this particular instance, but who can blame Him, after all that stuff with the moneylenders in the temple, right?



I should add that since the seller would not ship to the United States, Dimitri from Greece (aka "SYRACUSIAN" on Collectors Universe) acted as my Eurozone intermediary in this transaction and relayed the coin to me, refusing any reimbursement of his shipping costs. Having such fine friends in other parts of the world is a wonderful thing.



Miscellaneous links:

Larger image



Wikipedia links:

Republic of Ragusa

Venetian grosso (Venice forced Ragusa to pay tribute in the 13th and early 14th centuries)

Saint Blasius (Saint Blaise)

Sign of the Cross (in Eastern Orthodoxy)

V-sign

(You probably don't need a Wikipedia link for Jesus Christ, right?)







When posted here, this coin was part of my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.






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Comments

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    ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That's a superb piece. Excellent eye appeal.
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    bronzematbronzemat Posts: 2,605 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Beautiful coin
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    IosephusIosephus Posts: 872 ✭✭✭
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    worldcoinguyworldcoinguy Posts: 2,999 ✭✭✭✭
    Great detail and appearance. I see why you took the extra steps to acquire. Very nice.
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    SwampboySwampboy Posts: 12,885 ✭✭✭✭✭
    To have a Eurozone intermediary and a lovely medieval grosso is just too cool.
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    lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,198 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks, all. As of this posting I still have not submitted this coin for grading...yet. Usually I go with PCGS for anything non-ancient, mostly because I like the TrueView service. However, this one will likely to NGC because I think the existing images are reasonably accurate and acceptable as-is. I also have two ancients that need to go to NGC and one "details" graded PCGS coin (the medieval goldgulden) that I want to try for a "straight grade" on.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
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    SapyxSapyx Posts: 2,005 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That's a nice grosso.



    With Christ on one side and a saint on the other, these pieces made handy instant religious medals. The vast majority of these pieces I've seen on the market - and there have been quite a few in recent decades - have been holed.



    A nice coin to pair up with one of these is a "Bishop Blaze" Conder token; they depict the same guy.
    Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
    Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"

    Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD. B)
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    lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,198 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @dadams -

    Doug, you may now take a bow, being the new owner of the "Hippie Coin".

    It is now in flight to dadams, inside a big box o' books, mostly about Greco-Roman historical and numismatic topics.

    Pax vobiscum, dadams. Enjoy this coin. I did.


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